Korea's bold initiative, the Green
Growth Plan (GGP), spanning 2009 to 2013 with fiscal outlay
of US$84 billion, posed a significant challenge to
sustainable public... Show More + finance management in Korea. This paper
reviews how Korea accommodated the huge cross-cutting
expenditure plan in its annual and medium term budgets.
Notably Koreas medium term expenditure framework, the
National Fiscal Management Plan, enabled the Ministry of
Strategy and Finances Budget Office to integrate the GGP
into the budget and maintain fiscal balance. However, the
paper also notes that Koreas experience suggests
international standards on budget classification to be
updated to accommodate government-wide initiative. Show Less -

Better Technology, New MarketsThe report looks at case studies that illustrate governance lessons and recommendations to assure that fish resources deliver their full contribution to economic growth. Foreign... Show More + arrangements can offer better technologies for fishing and processing while opening up new and more profitable markets for fish products.In the Western Pacific, regional cooperation between neighboring coastal states has allowed greater returns to all countries involved in the tuna fishery. By defining access rights and putting into place uniform and cooperative surveillance and management systems, these small-island developing states have gained more control over their tuna resources. Furthermore, competitive arrangements for distant water nations involved in tuna fishing services significantly increased the flow of benefits to domestic development."All of our efforts are underpinned by a strong commitment to sustainable resource management," said Movick. "Some indicators of recent success include a near doubling in the value of tuna catch from FFA waters between 2007 and 2013 and a quadrupling of access fees in that period. There has been a 50% increase in employment of Pacific Islanders in the tuna fishery from 12,000 to 18,000 jobs over the same period.”Improving Governance and Securing Access RightsThe report distills the lessons learned from case studies into nine key recommendations to improve foreign access arrangements. Among them, the report emphasizes the importance of effective governance and access rights for all fisheries within a country’s exclusive economic zone.“The case studies provide critical practical caveats and important governance lessons,” says Tim Bostock, World Bank Senior Fisheries and Oceans Specialist. “As sovereign resource owners, governments of coastal developing countries are ultimately accountable to their populations for the productive use of natural resources, enabling their contribution to economies, welfare and shared prosperity. Without doubt, foreign fishing arrangements as a form of free trade in fishing services could make important contributions to this objective.”The report strongly recommends that all domestic participants in the sector, especially small-scale fishers, must be involved in decision making not only on policies aimed at secure and enforceable tenure and use rights, but also in regard to future foreign fishing.These conclusions reinforce the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel in their report Indispensable Ocean: Aligning Ocean Health and Human Well-Being. The panel of experts and leaders from around the world and across sectors advised that investments must equitably respond to needs of all users of ocean resources and also sustainable use of the environment. Trade in Fishing Services provides further guidance on policies and practices that align ocean health and human well-being.Analyzing the Legal Principles that Underpin Foreign AccessThe report reveals significant legal ramifications. Coming into force some 31 years ago, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has generally been interpreted to suggest that coastal states are obliged to make available their ‘surplus’ fish stocks to exploitation by other states. The report reveals that, in fact, coastal states have no obligation to do so and need only engage in foreign access arrangements should it be in their economic interest to do so. The report queries the extent to which this fact has been misinterpreted in the past; it also queries the extent to which some developing coastal states may have entered into foreign access arrangements on the assumption that they were obliged to do so under this Convention.This report should help inform coastal states of their rights under international law so they may allocate fish resources and services with economically and socially beneficial strategies.With better and more transparent arrangements, there is an optimistic vision for the future of fish stock, human well-being and international cooperation. Show Less -

PPIAF has supported the Government of
Jordan to improve the institutional and policy environment
for public-private partnerships (PPPs). The objective is to
provide... Show More + the enabling conditions for the development of a PPP
program that seeks to improve and expand access to
infrastructure services to the people of Jordan. The
Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF)
provided funding in 2013 to support the definition and
establishment of a PPP Unit within the Ministry of Finance,
provide recommendations to improve the legal and regulatory
framework for PPPs, draft a PPP policy, and identify a
pipeline of priority PPP projects. As a result of the PPIAF
support, the PPP Unit has been established based on the
recommended organizational structure. In addition, a new PPP
Law passed through Parliament and was ratified on November
2, 2014.Show Less -

The development objective of the Climate
Change Adaptation (CCA) Project for Maldives is to
demonstrate integrated multi-sectoral approaches to climate
adaptive planning... Show More + and management in Addu and Gnaviyani
atolls. Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures
include: (1) ensuring that any future protected area
zonation and management plan allows continued use of wetland
edges for taro; (2) using inclusive techniques to engage the
stakeholders in the planning process, including operating
through active non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as
strategic environment assessment (SEA) and within the
educational system; (3) ensuring the wetland management plan
includes a strategy to limit new road access to the
wetlands; (4) including waste dumping in the plan's
information, education, and communication campaign; and (5)
ensuring that the training modules are practical and fit
directly into local government processes. Show Less -

The World Bank Group has identified
support to fragile and conflict-affected states as a
strategic priority. This paper provides a systematic
portfolio review of the... Show More + International Development
Association-funded projects in fragile and conflict-affected
states during 2001 to 2013 and a detailed empirical analysis
of the correlations between project and country-level
characteristics with project outcome ratings. The portfolio
review identifies a decline in the proportional amount of
resources directed to fragile and conflict-affected states
and a decline in the number of internationally recruited
staff based in these countries. The empirical analysis finds
no statistical difference in whether projects obtain at
least a moderately satisfactory outcome rating between
countries that are fragile and conflict-affected states and
those that are not. Examination of the distribution of
project outcome ratings indicates that projects in fragile
and conflict-affected states obtain slightly lower ratings
conditional on being unsatisfactory or satisfactory.
Detailed cross-section regression analysis finds that
indicators of project complexity, such as supervision costs,
staff time, preparation time, and financing, are correlated
with lower outcome ratings. Project leader characteristics
are correlated with project outcome ratings, but to a lesser
degree in fragile and conflict-affected states, potentially
indicating that it is more difficult for project leaders to
influence project outcomes in these environments. Last, a
new approach to control for unobservable project
characteristics, such as inherent complexity or ambition,
shows preliminary evidence that changes in the project
leader and increases in the supervision budget are
correlated with improvements in project performance. Show Less -

This is a statement by Rt. Hon. Justine
Greening, and Rt. Hon. George Osborne at the ninetieth
meeting of the Development Committee held on October 11,
2014. He discusses... Show More + about the UK commends World Bank Group
President Jim Kim and his staff for the recent reforms to
ensure the Group remains relevant in a changing world and
effectively delivers the twin goals of poverty reduction and
shared prosperity. He looks forward to seeing the fruits of
these efforts. To ensure that the gains from the new
structure are realized other change processes will also need
to succeed. He looks forward to the new strategic country
diagnostics identifying the priority development challenges
where the Group can have the biggest impact and to the
change in structures driving greater collaboration across
the Group. He recognize the substantial progress made in the
implementation of the Expenditure Review and will work with
the Group to bring about a further improved budget process
that secures efficiency and maximizes results through client
facing activity over the medium term. He welcomes the Banks
greater attention to gender issues in its projects and its
commitment to ensuring that it has the right indicators,
data and skills to measure progress in so doing. The new
World Bank Group Gender Strategy scheduled for next year
will need to set out an ambitious road map to translate this
commitment into transformative change in key areas. Show Less -

This paper provides a detailed
explanation how the law of the World Trade Organization
regulates environmental subsidies with a focus on renewable
energy subsidies.... Show More + The paper begins by discussing the
economic justifications for such subsidies and the
criticisms of them and then gives examples of categories of
subsidies. The paper provides an overview of the relevant
World Trade Organization rules and case law, including the
recent Canada-Renewable Energy case. The paper also makes
specific recommendations for how World Trade Organization
law can be improved and discusses the literature on reform
proposals. The study finds that because of a lack of clarity
in World Trade Organizaion rules, for some clean energy
subsidies, a government will not know in advance whether the
subsidy is World Trade Organization-legal. Show Less -

At the Davos forum of January 2014, a
group of 14 countries pledged to launch negotiations on
liberalizing trade in "green goods" (also known as
"environmental" goods),... Show More + focusing on the
elimination of tariffs for an Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation list of 54 products. The paper shows that the
Davos group, with an average tariff of 1.8 percent, has
little to offer as countries have avoided submitting
products with tariff peaks for tariff reductions. Even if
the list were extended to the 411 products on the World
Trade Organization list, taking into account tariff
dispersion, the tariff structure on environmental goods
would be equivalent to a uniform tariff of 3.4 percent,
about half the uniform tariff-equivalent for
non-environmental goods. Enlarging the number of
participants to low-income countries might be possible as,
on average, their imports would not increase by more than 8
percent. However, because of the strong complementarities
between trade in environmental goods and trade in
environmental services, these should also be brought to the
negotiation table, although difficulties in reaching
agreement on their scope are likely to be great. Show Less -

Washington, September 24, 2014 – Today, in partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank Group approved a $10 million project to address the decline of important migratory fish... Show More + stocks in both coastal areas and areas beyond national jurisdiction. The Ocean Partnerships for Sustainable Fisheries & Biodiversity Conservation Project aims to improve the management of high value migratory species and maintain the economic benefits of sustainable fisheries and biodiversity conservation for developing countries and communities. More than a billion people rely on fish as their main source of protein and about 300 million are employed in jobs linked to healthy oceans.“The health and productivity of global fish stocks are under threat from overfishing, habitat destruction and marine pollution, all made worse by a patchwork of insufficient governance arrangements,” said Paula Caballero, World Bank Senior Director for the Environment and Natural Resources. “There is growing consensus that sustainable management of valuable fish stocks is essential if national and local economies are to continue deriving benefits from them and if we are serious about securing food and livelihoods well into the future.”While many fish populations fall within the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of individual countries, migratory species such as tunas, billfishes and sharks travel between EEZs and into areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJs). These fish stocks represent some of the most economically valuable species in the ocean. The tuna fishery alone engages 85 countries and is valued at US$10 billion a year. “The fact that these stocks are both high value and transboundary makes them uniquely challenging to manage effectively,” said Tim Bostock, World Bank Fisheries Expert. “We are now at a crucial juncture. We believe this project will spur the type of innovative and concerted action -- within and beyond national jurisdictions -- that is so urgently needed.”The GEF has committed $10 million in grants to be allocated in four marine regions: Western Atlantic and Caribbean, Bay of Bengal, Western and Central Pacific, and the Eastern Pacific. Grants will facilitate development of innovative management solutions implemented in partnership with regional actors from both public and private sectors.This project builds upon other World Bank ocean and coastal management work including the Pacific Regional Oceanscape Project (PROP) and recent investments to support tuna fisheries management and sustainable livelihoods in India. The GEF is committed to this effort in support of focal areas concerned with biodiversity restoration and cooperative management of international waters. “Productive fisheries, ocean biodiversity and growing coastal economies are not necessarily conflicting objectives,” said Gustavo Fonseca, Director of Programs at the GEF. “Continued mismanagement of fisheries represents one of the most serious threats to marine biodiversity and livelihoods in developing countries. Reformed fisheries management can contribute significantly to fishery productivity and biodiversity restoration while supporting livelihoods.About the GEF and the World BankThe Global Environment Facility is a partnership for international cooperation where 183 countries work together with international institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector, to address global environmental issues. The GEF serves as financial mechanism for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. It also works closely with the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances. The World Bank is one of GEF’s implementing agencies and supports countries in preparing GEF co-financed projects and supervising their implementation in areas that are consistent with GEF objectives and national sustainable development strategiesThe World Bank Group’s vision is a world free of poverty. To support this vision, the World Bank’s Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice provides expertise, technical assistance and financing to help developing countries strategically manage their environment and natural resources to end poverty and boost shared prosperity in a sustainable manner Show Less -

This newsletter includes the following
headings: water and energy efficiency; green bonds; use of
proceeds; World Bank green bonds in the news; what makes our
green... Show More + bonds green?; and what green bond investors said? Show Less -

The replenishment resolution authorizes
the trustee to hold in trust and manage the resources made
available for the sixth replenishment of the global
environment facility... Show More + (GEF) trust fund (the sixth
replenishment). The GEF council endorsed the replenishment
resolution at its meeting in Cancun, Mexico on May 25 to 27,
2014, and requested the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and
Chairperson of the GEF to transmit the replenishment summary
to the Bank with a request that the Bank's Executive
Directors be invited to adopt the replenishment resolution.
Recognizing the importance of the GEF as a mechanism to
address global environmental issues, and the contribution of
the GEF trust fund in supporting governments to comply with
commitments under certain multilateral environmental
agreements, contributing participants agreed to a financing
framework of United States (U.S.) 4.43 billion dollars for
the sixth replenishment. Amendments to the instrument are to
be approved by consensus by the assembly upon the
recommendation of the council, after taking into account the
views of the implementing agencies and the trustee, and
shall become effective after adoption by the implementing
agencies and the trustee in accordance with respective rules
and procedural requirements. It was recommended that the
Executive Directors should approve the replenishment
resolution authorizing the Bank to act as trustee of the
sixth replenishment of the GEF trust fund. It was also
recommended that the Executive Directors should approve the
amendment resolution adopting the amendments to the instrument. Show Less -

This data book is based on World
Development Indicators 2014 and its online database. As a
reference book, it provides key environmental data for over
200 economies.... Show More + Key indicators are organized under the
headings of agriculture, forests and biodiversity, oceans,
energy and emissions, water and sanitation, environment and
health. National accounting aggregates are also included.
This data book offers a starting point for the selection of
country-relevant green metrics that can provide a
comprehensive picture of environmental sustainability challenges. Show Less -

Economic, agronomic, and biophysical
drivers affect global land use, so all three influences need
to be considered in evaluating economically optimal
allocations of... Show More + the world's land resources. A dynamic,
forward-looking optimization framework applied over the
course of the coming century shows that although some
deforestation is optimal in the near term, in the absence of
climate change regulation, the desirability of further
deforestation is eliminated by mid-century. Although adverse
productivity shocks from climate change have a modest effect
on global land use, such shocks combined with rapid growth
in energy prices lead to significant deforestation and
higher greenhouse gas emissions than in the baseline.
Imposition of a global greenhouse gas emissions constraint
further heightens the competition for land, as fertilizer
use declines and land-based mitigation strategies expand.
However, anticipation of the constraint largely dilutes its
environmental effectiveness, as deforestation accelerates
prior to imposition of the target. Show Less -

This publication updates a document on
indigenous peoples prepared by the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) Secretariat in 2008. In recent years, the GEF
has enhanced... Show More + its partnership with indigenous peoples. For
example, it has developed the GEF Policy on Agency Minimum
Standards on Environmental and Social Safeguards (which
includes a safeguard policy on indigenous peoples), the
Principles and Guidelines for Engagement with Indigenous
Peoples, and the establishment of the GEF Indigenous Peoples
Advisory Group. Moreover, GEF projects involving indigenous
peoples have more than doubled during the past six years to
more than 220. Engagement with indigenous peoples is crucial
to the successful achievement of the GEFs mission. With
increased understanding of linkages between indigenous
peoples and global environmental outcomes, the GEF has
adopted new standards and guidelines to help ensure
appropriate and consistent engagement of indigenous peoples
in GEF programs, projects and processes. Over the past two
decades, the GEF has learned many lessons with respect to
enhanced engagement with indigenous peoples. Those lessons
learned being participation, knowledge and development
management, flexible institutional and governance
arrangements, recognition rights, and livelihood activities.
The GEF will continue to learn and adjust actions based on
these findings and incorporate them into relevant policies,
processes and programs. Show Less -

This is a statement by The Right
Honourable Justine Greening, MP, Secretary of State for
International Development, and The Right Honourable George
Osborne, MPChancellor... Show More + of the Exchequer, United
Kingdom, at the eighty-ninth meeting of the Development
Committee held on April 12, 2014. They discuss the World
Bank President Jim Kim's reform efforts, the engagement
with resilience, fragile states, conflict and crises, and
gender and anti-discrimination. It is essential that UN
member states agree on a clear, compelling and inspiring
framework that builds on and goes beyond the Post-2015
Millennium Development Goals. Show Less -

Climate change will have its largest
impacts on developing countries, with poor populations
particularly hard hit and unable to adequately adapt. There
is an opportunity... Show More + for developing countries to pursue a
complementary approach, emphasizing building up the
capabilities of local firms to participate in the business
opportunities surrounding climate change. Climate change
therefore represents an opportunity for developing countries
to build local green industries that can drive sustainable
economic growth and provide environmental benefits. This
report offers insight to policy makers and other
stakeholders seeking to develop competitive green industries
in developing countries. It provides an overview and
estimate of the market opportunity for climate and clean
technology business in developing countries over the coming
decade. It identifies which aspects of these markets are
most accessible to local firms and to small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) in particular. Using a newly gathered set
of firm data, it identifies which parts of the value chain
are already being targeted by local industry. Finally, it
provides a set of actions that can be considered for
countries that intend to build up local green industries. Show Less -

Readiness for Investment in Sustainable
Energy (RISE) is a suite of indicators that assesses the
legal and regulatory environment for investment in
sustainable energy.... Show More + It establishes a framework for better
depicting the national enabling environment to attract
investment into sustainable energy. In this way, RISE
supports the achievement of the objectives of the
Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4ALL): ensure
universal access to modern energy services, double the share
of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and double the
rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030. Reaching
the SE4ALL goals will require an almost tripling of
historical annual investment flows in these areas to about
$1 trillion, such that countries will need to embrace an
enabling environment that attracts all forms of investment
public and private. This report presents the methodology and
results of a pilot phase of RISE involving 17 developed and
developing countries, as well as an in-depth case study on
Kenya. The pilot is supported by data collected between
December 2013 and June 2014. The pilot countries,
representing varying status in data availability and data
quality are: Armenia, Chile, Denmark, Ethiopia, Honduras,
India, Kenya, Liberia, Maldives, Mali, Mongolia, Nepal, the
Solomon Islands, Tanzania, the United States, Vanuatu, and
the Republic of Yemen. An in-depth exercise was carried out
in Kenya to understand better progress in creating an
enabling environment. This pilot report will be the starting
point for launching the global rollout. It allows for a
validation of the methodology, and for lessons learned from
developing and implementing the suite of indicators across
these countries. Most important, it will remain a baseline
consultation document for the global rollout-expected in
2015 and to cover about 100 countries-helping refine the
methodology and interpretation or results. Show Less -

Based on a comprehensive worldwide firm
survey, this paper looks at how the business environment and
economic agglomeration affect job creation, holding constant
conventional... Show More + determinants of firm growth, such as firm
ownership, size, and age. The analysis finds that economic
agglomeration is most important, especially modern
telecommunications, access to export markets, concentration
of economic activity in large cities, and capacity
agglomeration (the concentration of large firms in a city).
Although the business environment affects job growth less
than agglomeration does, some elements of the business
environment matter, such as labor flexibility, unionization,
and local skill levels. There is strong heterogeneity in job
creation across firm size and age. Show Less -

This is a statement of The Right
Honourable Justine Greening, MP, Secretary of State for
International Development, and The Right Honourable George
Osborne, MP, Chancellor... Show More + of the Exchequer, United Kingdom, at
the eighty-eighth meeting of the Development Committee held
on October 12, 2013. They discuss the global economic
context, humanitarian needs in Syriam the World Bank Group
strategy, and the IDA 17 replenishment. Show Less -

Green industrial policies can be defined
as industrial policies with an environmental goal -- or more
precisely, as sector-targeted policies that affect the
economic... Show More + production structure with the aim of generating
environmental benefits. This paper provides a framework to
assess their desirability depending on the effectiveness and
political acceptability of price instruments. The main
messages are the following. (i) Greening growth processes to
the extent and with the speed needed cannot be done without
industrial policies, even if prices can be adjusted to
reflect environmental objectives. (ii) "Sunrise"
green industrial policies are needed because they support
the development of critical new technologies and sectors,
bring down costs, and allow for reduced emissions in the
short term even in the absence of carbon pricing. (iii)
"Sunset" green industrial policies and trade
policies may be needed in conjunction with safety nets to
make carbon pricing politically or socially acceptable. They
can help mitigate the impact of a carbon price on
competitiveness and unemployment and smooth the transition
by helping industries adjust to the new conditions. (iv)
Green or not, industrial policy requires carefully
navigating the twin dangers of market and governance
failure. The viability of supported technologies and sectors
is difficult to assess through a market-test given their
dependence on continued environmental policies or pricing --
such as a carbon price. Particular attention must be paid to
avoid potential unintended negative effects, such as rebound
effects (especially if prices are inappropriate),
misallocation of capital, or capture and rent-seeking behaviors. Show Less -